The action of the trilogy takes place on the outskirts of the once mighty Empire during the tragic and absurd time of its collapse. O. Pavlov's heroes are forced service people. One day of a camp guard in the novel “The Matyushin Case.” The journey of an army funeral team with a load of “200” in the story “Karaganda Departures”. The life of a simple and sinful Russian captain in the story “A State Tale”... The writer creates an atmosphere of existential displacement of the perception of the world and shows the complex intertwining of human destinies against the backdrop of the cruel, almost fantastic history of the country and people.